Jorge Castro launches V-P-B-T for measuring brand visibility in AI search

SEO expert Jorge Castro has introduced V-P-B-T, a framework designed to measure whether brands appear in AI search results as consumers turn to tools like ChatGPT instead of traditional search. The method aims to give e-commerce and marketing teams a shared benchmark for AI visibility after one-off manual checks proved too inconsistent to trust.

Why it matters: - AI assistants are increasingly shaping early purchase decisions, which means brands may win or lose attention before shoppers ever reach Google. - V-P-B-T gives e-commerce teams a way to measure AI visibility as a repeatable metric instead of relying on a single manual prompt. - The method is meant to answer a growing business question: whether a brand shows up when consumers ask an AI tool for recommendations.

What happened: - Jorge Castro, SEO expert, author and founder of Growth Marketing Sweden, launched V-P-B-T on September 28 in an expert article on Ehandel.se. - The framework is presented as a common measurement standard for e-commerce companies and marketing teams. - Castro introduced the method in response to widespread uncertainty about how brands appear in AI search.

The details: - V-P-B-T stands for Volume, Place, Breadth and Time. - Volume means asking the same question many times, not once. - Place means testing from different locations and IP addresses, because responses vary geographically. - Breadth means measuring across multiple AI models, not just one. - Time means repeating the test over time, because answers change from week to week. - The result is a coverage rate, showing how often a brand appears in responses instead of producing a simple yes-or-no answer. - Ehandel.se includes a checklist of purchase questions by segment for a first sample test, including fashion, consumer electronics, home and interior, beauty and B2B.

Between the lines: - The framework reflects a shift from traditional search optimization to AI-answer optimization, where visibility depends on whether an assistant includes a brand in its short list. - Castro is pushing for standardization because one-off tests can create false confidence and make competitors look more or less visible than they really are. - He framed the issue as a measurement problem, not just a search problem. - "A manual check gives a feeling, not a metric. If you want to know what it really looks like, the questions have to be run in large volumes, from multiple locations, in multiple models and over time," Castro said.

What's next: - Castro says the manual sample is only a starting point. - He expects brands to use larger, repeated tests to track their AI visibility month by month and compare results against competitors. - Castro will take part in a panel at Stora Ehandelsdagen on October 21 and speak at AI Live in Gothenburg in January 2027.

The bottom line: - V-P-B-T tries to turn AI search visibility from a guess into a measurable performance metric for brands that want to know where they stand in generative search.